is not destroyed by the accidents which happen to the body; and that the Soul, surviving the death of the mortal Body, is the subject of God's Rewards and Punishments in another world.

472 The doctrine, that man has a Soul, of which Consciousness, Will, Reason, Affections, Memory, Imagination, are Faculties, as Motion, Sensation, Nutrition, are Faculties of the Body, has been generally believed on other grounds also. I am conscious of remaining the same person, while my body is constantly changing by the process of nutrition. I will certain acts, in which the body is only the instrument of the will. I reason; and in doing so, refer to Ideas, or principles of reasoning, common to me along with all mankind: these Ideas or principles cannot be conceived as residing in the body. I love my parents, my brothers and sisters, my children; these affections do not belong to the body. By acts of duty, habits of duty and virtue are formed; which are not habits of mere bodily action. And by all these processes,-Will, Reason, Affection, Acts of Duty,-permanent effects are produced upon our being, which can be understood most simply as effects produced on the Soul. It is the Soul, which is permanently affected by the intellectual and moral culture of which we have spoken (202); as the body is permanently affected by bodily exercises. It is the Soul, which is tainted and distempered by transgression (252); and it is the Soul which is to be restored by Repentance and Amendment, if restoration be possible (260). It is the Soul, in which must take place the constant and unlimited moral progress, of which we have spoken (203): which, as we have said, must go forwards to the very end of life. And it is very natural to suppose that by this Progress, the Soul is fitted for Another Life, in which its condition will correspond with the nature of its Moral Progress in this life. If the Soul have reached a high point of Moral Progress on this side of death, we may suppose that it will, on the other side of death, if not on this, find a corresponding state of Happiness. If, on the contrary, habits of virtue have been neglected, transgressions committed, and habits of vice formed here, the Soul must be unfitted for enjoying, hereafter, any Happiness, such as we can suppose God to give to men's Souls.

473 Thus we are led to believe in a Future State of being, in which God's Moral Government will be carried on to its completion. But even in this present state of being, we must conceive ourselves and the world to be under the Government of God. God must be the Governor, as he is the Creator, of the world; for

as the Creator, he formed, and placed in it, those springs of Progress by which its course is carried on and regulated. We cannot help believing that, like all other parts of the Creation, the course of the world of human doing and suffering, must have a Purpose; and this Purpose must be in harmony with the Moral Government of God, to the belief of which we have already been led (469). The Course of this world, we cannot but believe, is directed by God's Providence. It is a Divine Dispensation.

474 The doctrines of Natural Religion, as we have stated them, thus present to us these Ideas: the Moral Government of God, and his Providence. So far as we borrow our Light from Natural Religion, we assume these Ideas, of Moral Government and Providence, to be realized in the World to Come; and we regard this world, as the Prelude and Preparation to that. But we cannot reasonably be satisfied with a mere Idea of the Course of this World. We must attend to the Fact also, that is, to the History of the World: and thus we are led to Revealed Religion.

CHAPTER II.

CHRISTIAN REVELATION.

475 THE Idea of the Course of the World, according to Natural Religion, is that it is directed by God's Providence so as to be in harmony with his Moral Government. The Fact which corresponds to this Idea is supplied to us by the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament.

We learn, from these Scriptures, that besides the transactions of men with men, the course of the world has also included transactions of God with men. There have taken place, in the History of the World, Revelations of the Commands and Promises of God, and of the Methods by which men are to be enabled to obey these Commands, and to receive the benefit of these Promises.

The central point of these Revelations is the coming of Jesus Christ upon Earth. To this point, all ancient History converges, by means of Early Revelations, and Prophecies, and the Selection of a special Nation, the Jews, as the Depositaries of Prophecy and by the successive failure of all attempts, made by moral and philosophical teachers, in other nations, to solve the perplexities of

S

man's condition, by the light of Reason, without the aid of Revelation. From this point, a new Dispensation begins.

476 A Revelation was made from God to man, through Jesus Christ. And this Revelation amply and entirely confirms the expectation and belief which Natural Religion offers to us (470, 472,) that Happiness is the appointed Reward of Virtue, Unhappiness the appointed Punishment of Sin; that there is a life, after this life, in which this Promise and this Threatening are realized; that the Soul survives the death of the present Body, and is the subject of God's Rewards and Punishments in another world.

477 Along with this confirmation of the expectation and belief which Natural Religion offers, the Revelation made to man, through Jesus Christ and his Disciples, conveys to us many Precepts of Duty, and Doctrines concerning the grounds of Duty, and concerning the best means of attaining Virtue. These Precepts and Doctrines confirm the Precepts and Doctrines of Morality which we have delivered, as far as these go: but the Christian Revelation offers to us many Truths concerning the grounds of Duty, and the means of attaining Virtue, which Morality alone cannot arrive at. These Precepts and Doctrines constitute Christian Morality.

478 The ground of our Duty, as presented to us by Religious Teaching, is, that it is the Will of God. The Will of God is the Supreme Rule of our Being.

But we also conceive (469) the Ideas which are contained in the Supreme Rule of our Being, namely, Benevolence, Justice, Truth, Purity, and Order, as parts of the Character of God. Hence, to conform our minds to those Ideas, is to conform our character to the Character of God. To approach to this Character, is to approach to the Image of God; and our Moral Progress may be spoken of as an approach to the Image of God. But in using such language, we must ever bear in mind the Supreme Reverence which is due to God, as the Perfect and Central Source of those moral qualities, in which we very imperfectly and distantly participate.

479 The Character of Jesus Christ, while upon the earth, was a Human Character of the highest Benevolence, Justice, Truth, Purity, and Obedience to Law. In his Character, we have the moral perfections, which we conceive in God, embodied and realized in man. Hence, the Image of God in Christ is the summit of the Moral Progress, which it is our Duty to pursue and this

object is presented to us by Christian teaching, as the aim and end of our moral career.

480 But Jesus Christ did not only teach the Will of God, and exemplify the highest moral excellence of man. He also suffered death upon the cross; was buried; rose again the third day; and ascended into heaven. And we learn, from Christian teaching, that these events were most important and essential parts of the New Dispensation. We learn, that, through the efficacy of these events, we may be saved from the consequences of our sins.

481 This part of Christian Doctrine contains an answer to the inquiries which, as we have already said, the Moralist is driven to make of the Religious teacher, respecting the efficacy of Repentance, and the provision made by God for saving man from the effects of sin (260). The Christian Revelation speaks to us of God's Pardon and Forgiveness of Sins, through which those who have transgressed and repented of their transgressions, may in some cases be saved from the punishment of sin, and restored to his favour. It teaches us also that the Rules of God's Government are such as not to admit of pardon directly and immediately upon Repentance, or by the sole efficacy of it. But it teaches, at the same time, what, without a Revelation, we could only have hoped, that the Moral Government of the world from the beginning was such as to admit of an interposition which might avert the fatal consequences of vice; and that vice, by that means, does admit of pardon. Christian Revelation teaches us, that the Laws of God's Government are compassionate, as well as simply good; and that he has provided an interposition, to prevent the destruction of human kind by the infliction of merited punishment, whatever that destruction, if not prevented, would have been. It was a part of the teaching of Jesus Christ, that (John iii. 15) God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He interposed by sending his Son Jesus Christ, so as to prevent that execution of justice upon Sinners, which must have followed, if it had not been for such interposition.

482 Further: the Christian Revelation contains important teaching upon another of the difficulties of Morality (270); namely, the means provided for carrying on our moral progress, in addition to the ordinary powers of our own minds.

Butler, Anal. B. II. c. 5.

Natural Religion suggests to us (472), that by this Progress the Soul is fitted for another Life; but we learn from Christian Revelation, that there are conditions of this Progress, of which Natural Religion and Morality cannot inform us. These means are described to be; a Belief in Jesus Christ, the Son of God; and a Participation in the Spirit which God sent upon earth at his coming, and infused into the Souls of his Disciples. In the same portion of Christian teaching to which we have already referred, it is said (John iii. 18 and 36), He that believeth on him is not condemned; but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God...He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life: but the wrath of God abideth on him. Jesus Christ himself said (John iii. 5): Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. He promised to his Disciples a Spirit which was to guide them into all truth (John xvi. 13). They were taught that it helped their infirmities (Rom. viii. 26). Hence this Spirit was called the Comforter (John xiv. 16), and was to dwell in them (Rom. viii. 9): and when Jesus Christ left the earth, his parting command was (Matth. xxviii. 19), Go ye and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit: and, lo, I am with you always, to the end of the world.

483 By the help of the means thus provided by God, and by the aid of this Spirit, a Christian man is lead to approach to the Image of God in Christ (479): he is in a special sense united with Christ, as the branch is united with the tree (John xv. 5), or as the members are united with the body (1 Cor. xii. 27; Eph. v. 30). His Soul receives nutriment from Christ; which is expressed by saying, that he feeds upon Christ (John vi. 51); and is symbolically expressed by eating bread and drinking wine, in remembrance of him (Luke xxii. 19), and in obedience to his command.

484 Believers in Christ, thus united with him, are united with each other, as members of a living Body (Rom. xii. 4; 1 Cor. xii. 12; Eph. iv. 25). This Body, of which Christ is the head, is the Church (Col. i. 18). He is the head of the body the Church. To this Body, thus united in Christ, belong unity in itself, perpetual existence, and the possession of religious Truth, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. This Body is the Universal or Catholic Church of Christ.

485 The Association of Believers in Christ, of which we have spoken, the Church, is bound together by means of certain habitual